


From the heart

by Nannethy



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Red Robin (Comics), Robin (Comics), Teen Titans (Comics)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bonding, Brothers, Damian Wayne Needs a Hug, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Good Brother Tim Drake, Hurt/Comfort, Scarecrow's Fear Toxin (DCU), hurt!Tim
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-25
Updated: 2019-07-25
Packaged: 2020-07-19 10:31:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19972606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nannethy/pseuds/Nannethy
Summary: Strategists always have a plan, the way of strategize can vary from strategist to strategist and their strategies can be applied to other areas and life in general. For Tim, life, his success as a vigilante, consist into plan ten steps ahead in different possible scenarios, always having a plan even for death. For Damian instead, life is a battlefield that concede the victory to those who have the best stratagems.Sometimes, the best results don’t come necessarily from planning, sometimes they come from the heart





	1. Part one

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [Del Corazón](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14124480) by [Nannethy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nannethy/pseuds/Nannethy). 



> Hi guys! There's an spanish version of my story if you prefer to check that one. I hope you enjoy it!

  
Strategists always have a plan, the way of strategize can vary from strategist to strategist and their strategies can be applied to other areas and life in general.  
  
For Tim, life, his success as a vigilante, consist into plan ten steps ahead in different possible scenarios, always having a plan even for death. For Damian instead, life is a battlefield that concede the victory to those who have the best stratagems.  
  
Until It didn’t matter how much effort they put into creating the perfect plan, the day wasn’t going as Tim and Damian had planned. None of them thought that they would have to work together to beat The Scarecrow. The man had chosen to work for someone else, it was difficult times to find a job in Gotham after all.  
  
His so called boss was a trafficker of people who planned to take a group of kidnapped kids of different ages and genders, boys and girls, from the country to Hong Kong and was willing to pay anything for Scarecrow’s services if that stopped the nosy masked heroes from getting into his plans and if the villain kept the victims under control, scared and docile enough that they would never want to run away.  
  
No, the day wasn’t going as they planned at all. Robin and the Teen Titans managed to infiltrate inside the cargo ship to stop the trafficker. Red Robin was there to stop Scarecrow. The connection between the two, the trafficker and Scarecrow, was later evident when Damian and Tim met face to face for their misfortune.  
  
Tim didn’t plan for Damian to decide that he could do the mission alone rather than being in “Drake’s” company -Fuck kid, no names in the field, he wanted to tell the brat but he had already left- and Damian didn’t plan to receive a dose of fear gas from Scarecrow himself, an improved version -With all his training it wasn’t slightly possible-.  
  
Finally the Titans managed to safeguard the victims, they would anyway but it was good for Red Robin to be back in the team at least this time. It helped that before he was the team leader because he was finding difficult to concentrate in the mission, Damian wasn’t visible anywhere.  
  
Not that Tim was worried for the Little demon… but an uneasy feeling deep inside was telling him that something was wrong and probably the others noticed, mostly because each five minutes he asked them if someone had seen the Gremlin or cursed that the boy wasn’t there to fulfill his role in the team.  
  
D…Drake- Suddenly Tim’s com sounded on a frequency where the others couldn’t hear it, the one for the Batfamily solely.  
  
Damian. Where the hell are you? I need your location, repeat, give me your **_damn location_** \- Tim was on the verge of a nervous breakdown, angry, frustrated and in denial. Him? Worried for the little spawn? Pfff never.  
  
Scare...crow… I think- I’m under the fear…gas effects- _Of course_ , it wasn’t usual for Damian to call Tim for help, actually, for anything, that taking into account the chaotic relationship they had. The more Tim listened the boy’s short sentences, the more he convinced himself that something was really wrong with him.  
  
Damian! Talk to me Damian! - Without hesitation and without even bothering to warn the others, Tim jumped towards the ship again and began his frantic search as if an unrecognizable and invisible force pulled him to find Damian before doing anything else. No sound was heard from the other end of the communicator; the day was going from bad to worse.  
  
Out of the blue, a noise like containers clashing one against other could be heard strongly through the little gadget in Tim’s ear and despite begging that the younger kid wasn’t crushed under the containers, the older kid felt relieved because now he knew where to search for Damian, he was in the cargo hold.  
  
While he was running to the fastest speed that his trained legs allowed him, Tim heard a loud sound at his right that seemed like an explosion, just then he noticed that he foolishly wasn’t paying attention to anything at all but it was late to avoid the expansive wave that send him directly against a wall along with a lot of fragments.  
  
The beep in his ears was unbearable, he could hardly keep his eyes focused and suddenly, he felt a stabbing pain in his abdomen that make him automatically direct one of his hands to that area.  
  
_Damn it!_ he thought as he saw his hand back in front of his eyes with the vision already better focused, it was blooded, one of the fragments from the explosion was incrusted in his body’s right side.  
  
For a moment he thought in giving up, to wait for one of the Titans to notice his absence, he wanted to call them. Instead, he decided to talk to Damian first, “help will take a little more Robin”, he would say to him.  
  
Damian, can you hear me?- He prayed for the person in the other side, his… **brother** , to listen, to answer.  
  
Dr-Drake? I am… scared- Tim didn’t know what kind of visions the gas was making the little boy see, but he was sure about one thing, in all the time he had known Damian, the little spawn would never admit that he was scared of something, not to him. That unique thought made Tim’s heart shake. _Fuck waiting for help_ , he had to reach his **little brother** now.  
  
I’m coming- Tim made his body to stand up, he made his own pain to stay away from his mind, told it to fake being any other thing, in his mind there was only room for a single thought, Damian, scared and in danger, his little brother, he had to find him, he had to help him.  
  
Cass- He remembered for a moment that the others were outside without knowing anything from them and he decided to notify them first at least.  
  
Tim! Where the heck are you? - _tsk Were they sure that they weren’t real brothers?_ Wondergirl thought, she really didn’t know if that was The Batman’s training or something else but all the Robins had proved to be even more stubborn than their master and sincerely, she wanted to fly to Gotham and ask him in person how he could stand them.  
  
Take care of everything. I’m going for Robin- The communication channel was down and Tim kept ignoring the pain, despite the poor results of doing that.  
  
To his frustration, reaching the cargo compartment took more time and effort that he would have liked and the task ahead looked like an almost impossible mission. He forced his brain to work despite the numbing pain, despite the confusion and how heavy the rest of his body felt. His mind was clouded, yes it was sluggish, but thinking about Damian in danger kept him concentrated, his mission was finding him and making sure to put him safe.  
  
And there, between two containers, curled as a small child, more small than the brat really was, was his little brother, oblivious to his older brother relief.  
  
Damian!- Maybe it was the pain, maybe it was the emotion from seeing his brother alive, maybe the pressure of having to take him out quickly because the ship was falling into pieces around them, maybe it was everything or nothing, but Tim felt like crying, and that’s why that shout, his brother name, came out louder than he intended in first place.  
  
Red Robin had to reconsider when Damian flinched and crouched even more, when the little warrior showed him a knife in a menacing way, Damian was in that moment the most menacing that can be a kid trained for a group of assassins and it was a lot… but Tim didn’t feel scared for his own sake, he felt scared of losing Damian, that was a dumb thought having the child in front of him but still, it made Tim feel a lump in his throat.  
  
Hey… calm down Dami, it’s me, Tim- With a soft and calm tone Tim approached to his brother as if he was an scared animal, not a human being, and the little boy dropped the knife to the ground to Tim’s surprise.  
  
Tim? - Red Robin didn’t know what was more impressive, if the jumble of emotions the moment he heard his name leaving his little brother’s lips for the first time or the fact that, Damian -his self-proclaimed nemesis as part of a race to consume everything that Tim cared in order to feel accepted- just pronounced his name in a tone so small that it made him sound… _vulnerable_.  
  
Dra- Tim! – Without a trace of doubt, Tim let himself be filled with tenderness and carefully approached to the younger Robin touching first his hand, later his arm and finally with a single pull, pulling him to put both arms around the kid to ground him, to support his little head _-Oh, how small he was-_ and his back in his own hands.  
  
Shhh, shhh, here I am little brother, you’re safe now- In absence of signs from The Scarecrow, Tim concentrated his efforts into calm Damian down, the poor kid was trembling like a feather but there wasn’t way to help him. If his research was right this was a new formula, giving him the antidote could kill the boy faster than not doing it.  
  
probably he wouldn’t remember anything and everything would be shouts, disagreements and fights again after this. However, what mattered here was that Tim could feel his brother there with him, his warm little body, he could cradle him between his arms, hear his agitated breaths and see that he was alive and that if he wanted to keep his little brother alive he had to find an away to get him out of there.  
  
Weakly Tim tried to think some away to escape but he found the cruel reality, there was no way that he could get Damian out on time, the entrance was blocked and he couldn’t carry his stout little brother too far with a wound like his, _Oh, yeah,_ his wound, the same one that was making him feel dizzy and without strength in that moment.  
  
Tim gave up the idea of getting out and began to search an away to survive, then his eyes caught an open container, a last minute bless that could keep them safe or at least extend their existence until someone could rescue them. _Please, someone save my little brother_.  
  
With the last of his strength, still without letting go the helpless kid in his arms, he walked weakly and stumbling towards the container where they found refuge once it was sealed from inside.  
  
There was nothing more that he could do, so he laid Damian to his side and began to run his hand through the boy’s hair and face, while he used his other arm as a pillow and a shield, waiting that soon Damian would fall asleep.  
  
Tim? - A soft voice seconds before falling asleep sounded inside the strangely cozy darkness.  
  
Yes Damian?- Tim was too weak to answer but he did anyway, he really did wanted to keep his eyes open, mostly because he was worried about Damian’s safety but the exhaustion was so overwhelming… that he almost could swear that his body was shaking but maybe it was the result of the freezing cold that he was feeling.  
  
I am really sorry- Damian said holding Tim’s free hand as if he wanted to feel that he wouldn’t leave, that he wouldn’t be alone again.  
  
For what?- It wasn’t that the little brat didn’t have reasons to apologize, but in that moment Tim didn’t care, so the question seemed logic but once he told it, it sounded stupid.  
  
For everything- _The effect of the fear gas_ , Tim thought immediately but just that time he wanted to believe that it was real, that Damian really wanted to apologize, that he really thought in his predecessor as a brother as much as Tim did of him.  
  
I’m sorry too, for everything- From that moment everything around them was consumed by the darkness and just the sound of them breathing could be heard for a long time.  



	2. Part II

  
A ray of light penetrated through a hole in the container, probably it was made during the hours when they were unconscious. Damian upset with the blatant light refused to open his eyes and then felt a hand holding his own hand and an arm making a poor imitation of a pillow below his head.   
  
Grayson, I do not require your assistance to sleep, you can leave… t.t. Grayson- He finally opened his eyes and what he saw wasn’t what he expected, Drake was lying in front of him, so close that Damian could feel his hard breathing, his hands trembling and he also see his pale complexion, paler than usual.   
  
Images from the night before began to gather in his mind, The Scarecrow had attacked him and escaped, then he saw terrible visions from the league of assassins, about his father, of Batman…he heard soft words, “I’m sorry too”, “Little brother”, “You’re safe now” and for incredible that it seemed, nothing aside from the fear gas visions had been a dream.   
  
Drake, wake up- He took off a glove to feel Red Robin’s temperature, his forehead was full of cold sweat, Damian’s eyes weren’t deceiving him, Drake was abnormally pale, and putting his own hand closer to Red’s nose his breath was burning, he had high fever.   
  
Drake- Damian tried to shake him awake just to receive a soft moan because the movement, then looking at the ground he noticed: Drake was bleeding. _Since when?_   
  
Fearing that he had been the one causing the wound while he was intoxicated with Scarecrow’s chemicals, he rotated the kid in red until he was on his back and examined him with his eyes and hands thoroughly until he reached the abdomen.   
  
A metal fragment was stuck in that area and just the danger of him bleeding out or causing more damage prevented Damian from remove the thing from Timothy’s body, he was relieved though, because that meant that he wasn’t the direct cause of Drake’s state but as quickly as he felt relief, he felt worried, concern seized him again and he continued frantically his exam.   
  
Drake’s pulse was weak, his hands now without gloves, were cold despite the fever _What were you thinking Drake? Why didn’t you leave me behind? Why are you dying now, in front of me and I can do nothing for you!?_  
  
Frustrated, Damian stood up and began to try to find an exit, he wasn’t successful, the door was stuck in the sand and the hole was too small for Drake to fit in it, even if it was just perfect for Damian to pass through, there was no way that he could leave Drak- **Timothy** there alone and the metal from the container was too hard to make the hole bigger.   
  
Please! We are here! Somebody! Whoever!... My brother is dying!... please- _t.t. despicable, I’m weak, pathetic_. Since when had he come down to that? He was begging, shouting for help.   
  
Damian’s training was telling him that it was better if Tim died, his own life was the only one worthy but, his heart and his mind were making him to kneel beside his weak brother and try the best he could to stop the bleeding, Timothy had lost too much blood and… now Damian couldn’t help crying.   
  
Timothy, idiot, I won’t let you die in front of me. Do you hear me? **You. Can’t. Die!** \- Outside there were sounds… Voices! Damian begged again to be heard and that Tim could resist until they could take him to some hospital, he wiped his tears and without stopping from making pressure on the wound he carefully took air and shouted with all his strength.   
  
Here! Quick! Red Robin is wounded! - He pleaded that the voices where from allies and saw how easily as a bottle opened, a young man with black T- shirt and a red S on the chest, removed the metallic wall from the container and stared at them, they were saved.   
  
////  
  
The toxin is completely out of your body now- Cassie Sandsmark, Wondergil said.   
  
t.t.- Damian looked away, it was his fault that Timothy was in such conditions, he hadn’t planned it but his performance in the field had been pitiful.   
  
In that precise moment little or nothing he cared about his own condition but he was scared of asking about his savior condition and be reminded of his failure, to be told “It’s your fault” and more than nothing, that he was told about his **brother’s** state… yes, his brother, was hurt too badly to do something about it.   
  
He lost a lot of blood, but now his condition is stable, feel free to visit him in the ICU if you want to see him- Robin clenched his hands to avoid sighing with relief but Cassie already had seen through his worries and that’s why she revealed the little fragment of information even when she was still mad with both of them. She then left the room to inform the others about the two bats respective conditions.   
  
Damian waited until everyone visited Timothy, until he felt that anyone else would enter the ICU and decided to go inside, his brother laid still unconscious on the bed, connected to a series of devices to monitor his signs.   
  
Instinctively Damian touched Tim’s hand and held it with a sorry look, like a little child who needed comfort and was looking for love where nobody could give it to him.   
  
Softly he turned around to leave while he still was holding his brother’s hand, letting it go little by little until he did completely.   
  
Why the long face kiddo? - A soft, sleepy voice made him look, Tim was awake. Damian automatically jumped to the side of the gurney and held his brother’s hand again as if he was to fall sleep and Damian’s touch was the only away to maintain him awake.   
  
In silence, they stayed like that for some time, Damian without looking at Tim’s face and when he tried to articulate an “I’m sorry” Tim pulled him closer in some kind of hug, that made him panic for a moment.   
  
I was really scared- Tim said without letting Damian go. _T.t. typical Drake_ , he thought waiting that the next words were part of some kind of monumental scolding but oddly enough, it wasn’t like that.   
  
I thought that I was losing you, little brother- Tears began to run down Damian’s cheeks like he was under a spell and sobs began to be heard. He had been scared too of losing his brother, he was still scared, he felt vulnerable, weak, suspended inside a nightmare where he might never see the one who he had proclaimed his hatred multiple times before and whom he now wanted safe and sound desperately.   
  
Hey, hey, calm down Damian, I’m here, you are safe, nothing can harm you while I’m with you. Do you get it? - For the first time in all his vigilante life, Tim didn’t know what to do, each second that he planned, each move, each answer, each strategy to avoid melodramatic situations, each one of those things had gone directly down the sewer and the only thing he cared now was comforting Damian.   
  
Do you know how weird is it for an strategist? Just to stop making strategies? But for Damian it wasn’t different, he also stopped from strategizing the moment he decided to stay inside the container with Tim.   
  
I was scared too Timothy- Voicing his fears felt so estrange yet so relieving. _Duh, those are the fear toxin effects_ , Tim thought, it was the habit but fortunately he opted to keep hearing in silence.   
  
I thought you would die and… I…- Tim felt as if he was looking at one of those comets that can be seen from earth each hundreds of years or one of those flowers that only bloom every so often, his little brother was trying to tell him that he cared too but his words were stuck in his throat. Tim knew how difficult it was for him all the emotion thing, even harder that it usually was for himself, and looking at him like that, crying like a helpless kid made Tim want to protect him.   
  
Come here- The older brother made room in the gurney for the younger brother who shyly climbed and laid to his brother’s side, the kid looked really tired, physical and emotionally.   
  
Tim put his hand in his brother’s head, he wouldn’t get offended if the surly little gremlin snapped his hand away, Tim waited but he nothing came, instead, Damian got closer and put his face in Tim’s chest, making sure to not to touch the abdomen area where the wound was, closed now with stitches and properly attended.   
  
Why? Because of me, for me…- Damian’s muffled voice sounded, he wanted to understand, to know the reason for Tim to save him instead of leaving him there when he had the chance and anyone would be mad at him because he was hurt and It had been Damian’s fault.   
  
The curious thing is that Tim understood why when he was in the hall and listened the voice of Damian scared, he perceived everything when he felt relieved of seeing him safe, he deduced all the reasons when he held Damian between his arms and felt like he never wanted to let him go.   
  
Kon told me that you could have escaped for the hole in the container wall. Why did you stay? - _t.t. That clone, revealing information like that without consulting me…_ After a grimace of slight disgust, Damian meditated a minute the answer.   
  
Because…- Why did he do that? The answer was revealed in that precise moment but Damian couldn’t believe it.   
  
Because you were hurt and… - He thought about it severely but his words didn’t come out. _You are my brother. How could I let you die there, alone?_ His mind had the answer but his mouth kept closed.   
  
Strangely Tim seemed to understand it perfectly without communicating it verbally.   
  
That happened to me too, it doesn’t matter how much we tell we hate each other Damian, want it or not, Dick, Jason, Cass, you and me are siblings and siblings protect their siblings from harm- He said it, this wasn’t a dream and he said it.   
  
The little monster to his side didn’t make a move to counter attack and Tim responded sliding gently his hand in circles over the child’s back several times to comfort him.   
  
Actually, I don’t hate you Drake, it doesn’t matter how irritating, slightly tolerable and abhorrent you may be most of the time- There it was, a glimpse of his little brother’s sour personality, but this time the insults weren’t poisonous, they were warm. Was that even possible?   
  
Ha! Well, I don’t hate you either little Gremlin… It doesn’t matter how much of a pain in the ass you are most of the time- They both smiled and Damian began to close his eyes, his eyelids were heavy, all the stress that he had accumulated was gone leaving the solely tiredness.   
  
Now let’s to sleep for a while, those bags won’t go away for themselves and I need my beauty dream too- Tim said touching carefully with a finger the bags under his brother’s eyes.   
  
I didn’t think to presence the day when Timothy Jackson Drake Wayne, the workaholic, would suggest to take a “beauty dream”- Tim for his didn’t believe it possible but Damian just had amazed him saying his entire name, Wayne included.   
  
Mmmh mmmh, sleep already dwarf- From that moment on, their relaxed breaths and the noise of the monitors where the only ones heard in the ICU.   
  
The other kids at some point came inside to check on Tim or looking for the missing Damian and found the scene.   
  
It wasn’t their fault if one or another didn’t resist the temptation and took photos to send them to the other bats.   
  
That would be their secret for a short time taking into account they were both Robins but sill it would be late to make something about it when they finally figured out about the photos.   
  
For Damian and Tim, it wasn’t in their plans to be brothers, nobody planned the last night and definitely nobody planned that they would stay there, together, curled up with each other but if something had taught that experience to those two was that sometimes, the best results don’t come necessarily from planning, they come from the heart.   


**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading :) I hope you liked it!


End file.
